By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's poll chief allayed fears about army interference in the country's close-fought presidential election Thursday.
The election commissioner, Mahinda Deshapriya, assured that inquiries had already been made and that there had been no major violation of elections laws.
He did admit to receiving complaints about security forces being deployed in the Wanni region, which had been the stronghold of separatist rebels from the Tamil minority during the country's decades long civil war, which ended in 2009.
A senior official speaking to The Anadolu Agency said that the poll chief has already verified the allegations. "The army commander has assured that this was not done," the official said.
The polls chief has said the army commander gave a firm assurance that troops had only been placed on stand-by and the election process was supported by the police, with 65,000 armed policemen deployed island-wide with instructions to "shoot in the head" in the event of any violations.
According to the Colombo-based Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, there had been over 400 incidents of election law violations in the island since the announcement of the poll on Nov. 20. The highest number of incidents has been recorded from the northern district of Jaffna.
Election monitors have expressed concern over Tamils and Muslims from the northern and eastern regions being prevented from voting, given the strong likelihood of them supporting the common presidential candidate, Maithripala Sirisena.
The voting was closed at by 4 p.m. local time with apprehensions about the integrity of the process in former war zones which are still to recover completely from the impact of 27 years of civil strife and remained heavily militarized.
On Wednesday, the first poll-related death was recorded when one of three people injured while decorating the election platform of Maithripala Sirisena, the opposition candidate, succumbed to injuries.
According to the island’s elections secretariat, the capital, Colombo, recorded the highest voter turnout at 75 percent. In the north, former conflict-affected districts of Wanni and Jaffna recorded 70 and 65 percent voter turnout, respectively.
The result of the election is expected to be announced Friday morning.
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